User interface for a handheld device

ABSTRACT

A user interface and method for composing a message to be sent over a wireless network environment using a handheld device is disclosed. According to the method, upon receipt of a user request to compose a message, a screen is displayed with a recipient field for a recipient address, an associated label to indicate that the recipient field is for a recipient address, and a message body field for holding message content. The method further includes, upon each keystroke entry of text to the recipient field, looking up entries from an address book which match the text, and displaying a selection menu representing addresses from at least a portion of the entries as well as cached entries previously looked up from a global address book.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present patent document relates generally to user interface designand more particularly to the design of user interfaces for applicationsrunning on handheld communication devices.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patentdocument or patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

Handheld devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), cellularphones, portable computing devices and other two-way data and/or voicecommunication devices, are increasing in popularity as they have becomemore feature-rich at an ever decreasing cost to the consumer. Inparticular, handheld devices that allow both voice and datacommunication are almost indispensable tools in certain businesses andgovernment agencies. The need to maintain electronic mail communicationas well as a variety of related information management applications suchas electronic calendars, contacts and address books, without impedingmobility are among the critical factors driving the demand for handheldcommunication devices. Popular handheld devices include those suppliedby Research In Motion Ltd. of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

However, some applications running on handheld devices may be cumbersometo use. This is partly due to the limitations of the hardware althoughuser interface design also plays a part. Handheld devices must, bydefinition, be easily portable and convenient to carry around. Thisentails that the handheld devices must have a small form-factor and besufficiently light for mobile use. Unfortunately, the small size of amobile handheld device limits the available physical means for dataentry, data output and general interaction with a user. Both the dataentry pad or keyboard and viewable screen size of a handheld device arenecessarily small compared with personal computers or workstations.Moreover, the use of a peripheral input device such as a mouse isawkward or impractical for handheld devices, as the peripheral is oftenalmost as large as the handheld itself. In addition, handheld devicesare often battery operated. Battery operated devices must pay particularattention to power consumption as power is a very limited resource. Itis thus advantageous, for power conservation purposes, to minimize thenumber of components that consume power.

Therefore it is often challenging for applications running on handhelddevices to offer user interface features that are as rich and asconvenient to use as those offered by their counterparts running on PCsand workstations. PCs have much larger screens, bigger keyboards and mayeasily use additional peripheral input devices such as a mouse.Conventional applications running on handheld devices thus typicallyoffer user interfaces that are less familiar and may sometimes beconfusing to use. Approaches to solve user interface problems havetended to focus on the design of small form-factor keyboard layouts foroptimal thumb-based data entry, such as the solution taught by U.S. Pat.No. 6,867,763 granted to Research In Motion Ltd.

However, the visual aspects of data entry interfaces in handheld devicesfor common applications, such as email client software, still tend to bedifferent from those offered by the desktop equivalents, due primarilyto the limitations of screen size. These differences in the userinterfaces between handheld versions and desktop versions of similarapplications are disadvantageous. For example, the typical handheld useris almost always familiar with a desktop email client and is thereforelikely to be inconvenienced by a user interface on a handheld that isvery different. Further, composing an email message using conventionalemail clients on handhelds often entails an excessive use of menu driveninput. Accordingly, there is a need for applications running on handhelddevices that mimic some of the desirable aspects of user interfaces ofcorresponding desktop applications. Advantageously, a better userinterface would make handheld devices more convenient and enjoyable touse.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Aspects and features of the disclosed device and method will becomeapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of thefollowing description of specific embodiments in conjunction with theaccompanying figures. In the figures which illustrate exampleembodiments:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram depicting a typical networked environmentin which a handheld computing device may be used;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the various components of a handhelddevice;

FIGS. 3A-3D are block diagrams of screenshots of the user interface ofan exemplary email client executing on the handheld device of FIG. 2 ina conventional manner;

FIG. 4 depicts exemplary software architectural layers for an emailclient executing on the handheld device of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 5A-5F are block diagrams representative of screenshots of the userinterface presented to a user when executing exemplary email clientsoftware on the handheld device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart that illustrates one exemplary operation of ahandheld device executing an email client in accordance with anexemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 7-29 are block diagrams representative of various screens of auser interface encountered by a user when executing email clientsoftware in an exemplary embodiment of the handheld device of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 30-33 are block diagrams representative of various screens of auser interface encountered by a user when composing a PersonalIdentification Number (PIN) based message using the handheld device ofFIG. 2; and

FIGS. 34-36 are block diagrams of various screens of a user interfaceencountered by a user when composing an email message using a handhelddevice employing a disambiguation engine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A handheld device and method for composing an email message to be sentover a wireless network environment is disclosed. In accordance with oneaspect, a method of operation of a handheld device is disclosed.According to the method, upon receipt of a user request to compose ane-mail, a screen is displayed with a recipient field for a recipientaddress, an associated label to indicate that the recipient field is fora recipient address, and a message body field for holding messagecontent. The method further includes, upon each keystroke entry of textto the recipient field, looking up entries from an address book whichmatch the text, and displaying a selection menu representing addressesfrom at least a portion of the entries. In accordance with anotheraspect, a handheld device loaded with an email client is disclosed. Theemail client includes processor executable instructions that allow auser to compose an email message to send to a server computer over anetwork. The email client on the handheld device displays a screen witha recipient field for a recipient address, an associated label toindicate that the recipient field is for a recipient address, and amessage body field for holding message content. The device further looksup entries from an address book which match text typed into therecipient field, and displays a selection menu representing addressesfrom at least a portion of the entries.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram depicting a typical networkedenvironment 100 in which an exemplary handheld computing device 200 maybe used. Networked environment 100 includes a desktop computing device102, a server computer 104, a wide area network (WAN) 106, acommunications network 110 and handheld device 200. Server 104 includesemail server software, and is interconnected with a desktop computer 102through a local area network (LAN) 114. Server 104 additionally includessoftware that facilitates access to the email server software byhandheld device 200.

A radio frequency (RF) base station 112 provides a communication linkbetween WAN 106, which may be the public Internet, and a communicationsnetwork 110, which may be a wireless network. Handheld device 200accesses data from server 104 or desktop computer 102 through thecommunications network 110 and WAN 106. In some network architectures, afirewall may be implemented between WAN 106 and server computer 104 togate access to LAN, 114 which may be a corporate LAN.

Handheld device 200 is loaded with email client software that accessesemail messages, stored in mail server software such as MicrosoftExchange or Lotus Domino software, running on server 104. To facilitatedata access by handheld device 200, server 104 may be loaded withspecialized software to provide compression, encryption and a datainterface with the mail server software.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of exemplary handheld mobile communicationdevice 200. Device 200 includes a housing, an input device (keyboard214), and an output device (display 226), which may be a full graphicLiquid Crystal Display (LCD). Other types of output devices mayalternatively be utilized. A processing device (microprocessor 228) isshown schematically in FIG. 2 as coupled between the keyboard 214 andthe display 226. The microprocessor 228 controls the operation of thedisplay 226, as well as the overall operation of the handheld device200, in response to actuation of keys on the keyboard 214 by a user.

The housing may be elongated vertically, or may take on other sizes andshapes (including clamshell housing structures). The keyboard mayinclude a mode selection key, or other hardware or software forswitching between text entry and telephony entry.

In addition to the microprocessor 228, other parts of the handhelddevice 200 are shown schematically in FIG. 2. These include: acommunications subsystem 270; a short-range communications subsystem202; the keyboard 214 and the display 226, along with a trackwheel (ortrackball) 206 and other auxiliary input/output devices 207, a serialport 208, a speaker 211 and a microphone 212; as well as memory devicesincluding a flash memory 216 and a random access memory (RAM) 218; andvarious other device subsystems 220. As is known, trackwheel 206 may berotated to provide scrolling and pressed to allow selection. Thehandheld device 200 has a battery 221 to power the active elements ofthe handheld device 200. The handheld device 200 is preferably a two-wayradio frequency (RF) communication device having voice and/or datacommunication capabilities. In addition, the handheld device 200 mayhave the capability to communicate with other computer systems via theInternet.

Operating system software executed by the microprocessor 228 ispreferably stored in a persistent store, such as the flash memory 216,but may be stored in other types of memory devices, such as a read onlymemory (ROM) or similar storage element. In addition, system software,specific device applications, or parts thereof, may be temporarilyloaded into a volatile store, such as the RAM 218. Communication signalsreceived by the handheld device may also be stored to the RAM 218.

The microprocessor 228, in addition to its operating system functions,enables execution of software applications on the handheld device 200. Apredetermined set of software applications that control basic deviceoperations, such as a voice communications module 230A and a datacommunications module 230B, are installed on the handheld device 200during manufacture. The data communications module 230B allows thehandling of email messages. In addition, a personal information manager(PIM) application module 230C is also installed on the handheld device200 during manufacture. The PIM application is capable of organizing andmanaging data items, such as e-mail, calendar events, voice mails,appointments, and task items. The PIM application is also capable ofsending and receiving data items via wireless network 110. The dataitems managed by the PIM application are seamlessly integrated,synchronized and updated via the wireless network with the device user'scorresponding data items stored or associated with a host computersystem. As well, additional software modules, illustrated as othersoftware modules 230N, may be installed during manufacture.

Communication functions, including data and voice communications, areperformed through the communication subsystem 270, and possibly throughthe short-range communications subsystem 202. The communicationsubsystem 270 includes a receiver 250, a transmitter 252 and one or moreantennas, illustrated as a receive antenna 254 and a transmit antenna256. In addition, the communication subsystem 270 also includes aprocessing module, such as a digital signal processor (DSP) 258, andlocal oscillators (LOs) 260. The specific design and implementation ofthe communication subsystem 270 is dependent upon the communicationnetwork in which the handheld device 200 is intended to operate. Forexample, the communication subsystem 270 of the handheld device 200 maybe designed to operate with the Mobitex™, DataTAC™ or General PacketRadio Service (GPRS) mobile data communication networks and alsodesigned to operate with any of a variety of voice communicationnetworks, such as Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS), Time DivisionMultiple Access (TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access CDMA, PersonalCommunications Service (PCS), Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM), etc. Other types of data and voice networks, both separate andintegrated, may also be utilized with the handheld device 200.

Network access requirements vary depending upon the type ofcommunication system. For example, in the Mobitex™ and DataTAC™networks, handheld devices are registered on the network using a uniquePersonal Identification Number (PIN) associated with each device. InGPRS networks, however, network access is associated with a subscriberor user of a device. A GPRS device therefore requires a subscriberidentity module, commonly referred to as a Subscriber Identity Module(SIM) card, in order to operate on a GPRS network.

When required network registration or activation procedures have beencompleted, the handheld device 200 may send and receive communicationsignals over the communication network 110. Signals received from thecommunication network 110 by the receive antenna 254 are routed to thereceiver 250, which provides for signal amplification, frequency downconversion, filtering, channel selection, etc., and may also provideanalog to digital conversion. Analog-to-digital conversion of thereceived signal allows the DSP 258 to perform more complex communicationfunctions, such as demodulation and decoding. In a similar manner,signals to be transmitted to the network 110 are processed (e.g.,modulated and encoded) by the DSP 258 and are then provided to thetransmitter 252 for digital to analog conversion, frequency upconversion, filtering, amplification and transmission to thecommunication network 110 (or networks) via the transmit antenna 256.

In addition to processing communication signals, the DSP 258 providesfor control of the receiver 250 and the transmitter 252. For example,gains applied to communication signals in the receiver 250 and thetransmitter 252 may be adaptively controlled through automatic gaincontrol algorithms implemented in the DSP 258.

In a data communication mode, a received signal, such as a text messageor web page download, is processed by the communication subsystem 270and is input to the microprocessor 228. The received signal is thenfurther processed by the microprocessor 228 for an output to the display226, or alternatively to some other auxiliary I/O devices 207. A deviceuser may also compose data items, such as e-mail messages, using thekeyboard 214, a trackwheel 206 (as for example a thumbwheel) and/or someother auxiliary I/O device 207, such as a touchpad, a rocker switch, orsome other type of input device. The composed data items may then betransmitted over the communication network 110 via the communicationsubsystem 270.

In a voice communication mode, overall operation of the device issubstantially similar to the data communication mode, except thatreceived signals are output to a speaker 211, and signals fortransmission are generated by a microphone 212. Alternative voice oraudio I/O subsystems, such as a voice message recording subsystem, mayalso be implemented on the device 200. In addition, the display 226 mayalso be utilized in voice communication mode, for example, to displaythe identity of a calling party, the duration of a voice call, or othervoice call related information.

The short-range communications subsystem 202 enables communicationbetween the handheld device 200 and other proximate systems or devices,which need not necessarily be similar devices. For example, theshort-range communications subsystem may include an infrared device andassociated circuits and components, or a Bluetooth™ communication moduleto provide for communication with similarly-enabled systems and devices.

Handheld device 200, when operating under the control of known softwareand device code (firmware), may be used to compose an electronic mailmessage to a recipient in the manner illustrated in FIGS. 3A-3D.Variations in the sequence of actions, such as the use of keyboard keysinstead of the trackwheel 206, or the optional use of popup menus toalter the sequence of user interface screens, are possible.

With reference to FIGS. 3A-3D along with FIG. 2, startup screen 300(FIG. 3A) of a known email application running on the handheld device200 includes icons 302 which are allocated labels, for example,‘Messages’, ‘Address book’, ‘Calendar’, ‘Compose’, ‘Browser’ etc. Eachof these icons 302 typically launches a new, appropriately tailored,user interface screen on the display 226 when selected by the user byway of the trackwheel 206 or the keyboard 214. FIG. 3B depicts anexemplary screenshot of a user interface screen, displayed by a knownhandheld email client when the ‘Compose’ icon is selected in FIG. 3A.The depicted user interface 330 includes a label 332, an input field334, a drop down address selection list 338, headed with a ‘[Use Once]’selection 336. One of the addresses may be highlighted as shown at emailaddress selection 340. Label 332 reads ‘To:’ in an English version ofthe software. All labels may of course contain translated equivalents ofthe exemplary English labels illustrated, as needed.

The address selection list is a list of the first entries in the localaddress book stored in handheld device 200 headed with a ‘[Use Once]’entry. If the address book is empty or the intended recipient's addressis not in the address book, only the ‘[Use Once]’ option and a messageline that reads ‘*No Addresses*’ is displayed indicating that theaddress book is empty. The message line itself may be selectable and ifselected it may prompt for a new address using a new email address entrywindow (not shown).

If the address book is not empty the user may select the entry 340 withthe name of a recipient in the address list 338 as shown in FIG. 3B.Upon selecting a recipient, a popup menu (not shown) with a pre-selectedentry that reads “email selected_name” may be presented (whereselected_name is actually the name of the selected email recipient—e.g.Scotte Zinn). Once the pre-selected (highlighted) popup menu entry isselected, the screenshot 360 as depicted in FIG. 3C may be launched.Screenshot 360 includes an un-editable field 362 containing the selectedrecipient. A popup menu (not shown in FIG. 3C) may be invoked by way oftrackwheel 206 with entries labeled as ‘Add To:’, ‘Add Cc:’, ‘Add Bcc:’and ‘Delete Field’. Screenshot 360 also typically includes label 364which reads “Subject:” and fields 366 and 368 which are freeform fieldsfor entering the subject and contents of the email being composed,respectively.

If the ‘[Use Once]’ entry 336 (FIG. 3B) is selected using trackwheel 206(or by tapping the ‘enter’ key on keyboard 214 while the ‘[Use Once]’entry 336 is highlighted), screenshot 350 shown in FIG. 3D is displayed.A message label 352 states ‘One Time Email’, while label 354 reads“Email:” and field 356 is freeform to allow typing of the recipient.Label 352 is intended to indicate to the user that the current email isfor use on a one-time basis and is not retrieved from the address book.After entering the email address in field 354 and pressing the enter key(or equivalently, pressing the trackwheel), the screenshot 360 depictedin FIG. 3C appears.

It can be easily appreciated that the sequence of actions to arrive atscreenshot 360 is not very intuitive or as straightforward as possible.In that regard, new users who have not synchronized their local addressbook in their handheld device 200 will have to undertake the stepsrepresented by the sequence of user interfaces shown in FIGS. 3A-3D inorder to send an e-mail. Furthermore, whether or not the recipient isfound in the address book, the steps required to send an email usingknown email clients is inconsistent with the way email is composed usingpopular desktop email client applications such as Outlook® fromMicrosoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., USA. For example, it may not be quiteclear what ‘[Use Once]’ (in FIG. 3B) means to one who is not alreadywell versed in the use of the handheld device executing a conventionalemail client. Also, the number of menu accesses to navigate through toscreenshot 360 can be considerable. It is therefore likely that the userinterfaces depicted in FIGS. 3B-3D may be sources of confusion andfrustration to users, especially novice users.

As mentioned earlier, the sequence of user interaction described thusfar results from handheld device 200 operating with known software.Several variations exist consequent upon different known software loads.However, these variations nonetheless exhibit at least some of thedisadvantageous characteristics identified.

One approach to solve the user interface problems identified is to havethe handheld device mimic, to the extent possible, standard userinterfaces used in popular desktop applications. Conveniently, handhelddevice 200 may be adapted to operate in exemplary inventive manners bythe way of new software loaded onto device 200.

In this regard, returning to FIG. 2, the microprocessor 218 in handhelddevice 200 may be used to run software applications comprising processorexecutable instructions. Microprocessor 228 interacting with RAM 218 andother device subsystems, may execute operating system software and otherapplication software which may be stored in a persistent store such asflash memory 216. In addition, applications may be loaded onto handhelddevice 200 from an external source accessible through auxiliary I/O 207,serial port 208, short range communications subsystem 202 or otherdevice subsystems 220, for execution by microprocessor 228. As depictedin FIG. 4, software applications 240 such as an email client, electroniccalendar, or appointment organizers may execute inside a virtual machine242 running atop an operation system 244. An exemplary virtual machinemay be the K virtual machine (KVM) from Sun Microsystems Inc. of SantaClara, Calif., USA. The applications 240 may have the ability to sendand/or receive data, via the network 110.

Software applications 240, such as applications according to embodimentsof this disclosure may easily be implemented using a standardprogramming language such as the Java™ programming language, targeting avirtual machine executing in handheld device 200. To make use of avirtual machine, an application development platform, such as the Java 2Micro Edition (J2ME), along with a development environment which may bea variant of the Java Development Environment (JDE) from SunMicrosystems Inc., may be used to develop applications. Applicationdeveloper guides for a specific development platform may be consulted todevelop an application with user interfaces as disclosed herein. JDE fora particular handheld device, for example, provides a set of applicationprogramming interfaces (API) which provides access to device featuresincluding user interface, networking, localization and othercapabilities. Thus, using the above resources and related hardware,software and documentation, the descriptions of embodiments of the userinterface layouts provided hereinafter and associated features can beimplemented in a straightforward manner by those with ordinary skill inthe art. Alternately, many other programming approaches, languages andplatforms may be used. For instance, the application may target theoperating system of device 200 directly, or another programming languagesuch as C or C++ may be used. The approach outlined above is thus onlyexemplary and in no way limiting.

A handheld device 200 operated in exemplary inventive manners may startout by launching a start up screen similar to that in FIG. 3A, anddisplaying icons 302 which may be labeled as ‘Messages’, ‘Address book’,‘Calendar’, ‘Browser’ etc. Icons 302 allow the user to launch new userinterface screen on display 226 (FIG. 2) when selected by trackwheel 206or keyboard 214.

Exemplary screenshots of handheld device 200 when loaded with softwareso as to operate in accordance with the present disclosure are depictedin FIGS. 5A-5F. FIG. 5A depicts a schematic diagram of an exemplaryscreenshot 400 of a handheld device 200 executing a client applicationlaunched after a selection is made to compose email. Screenshot 400 maybe launched by selecting a ‘Compose Email’ option from a pop-up menuavailable when in a messages application. Alternatively, a ‘Compose’icon may be present in the startup screen that launches screenshot 400upon selection. Other ways of launching screenshot 400 starting from thestartup screen may also be included.

Screenshot 400 is an exemplary email composition screen. Screenshot 400includes labels 402, 406 and 410 which read “To:”, “Cc:” and “Subject”,respectively. Recipient field 404 is a freeform field in which arecipient may be entered. Field 408 is a freeform field in which copiedrecipients are entered. Field 412 is a free form field in which thesubject heading for the email is entered while field 414 allows themessage content of the email to be keyed in.

As the user types text in to field 404, any matching names may beselected from the address book and displayed in a selection menu 456 asshown in FIG. 5B. Matching names are sought from the name field and fromthe company field of entries in the address book, and optionally fromother fields as well. (For reasons which will be explained, the menu 456may be headed with the entries ‘Email’ and ‘Lookup’.) The menu may allowa user to move down to one of the listed addresses and select an entry.Selection menu 456 is dynamically updated upon each keystroke entry oftext into recipient field 404, by displaying in the selection menu 456 afiltered list of names, so that only names containing the typed text (infield 404) are displayed. As shown in FIG. 5B only names matching ‘An’are listed in selection menu 456, as a result of the user typing ‘An’into recipient field 404. Menu 456 may occupy as much vertical spacebelow the field 404 as allowable. Moreover, the screen may scroll toallow at least two screens of menu 456.

As the user types in more letters the list of matching names may becomeshorter, since names that do not match the typed text are successivelyremoved from selection menu 456 with each keystroke entry of text intofield 404. If the user selects an entry in selection menu 456, theselected entry will be inserted into field 404, field 404 is changed tobecome a non-freeform field, and the selection menu 456 disappears. Ifthe selected entry contains no email address, a warning is displayedindicating that the entry does not contain an email address. Conversely,if the selected entry contains multiple email addresses, a dialog ormenu (not shown) is displayed with a list of possible email addressesfor the recipient, to allow the user to select one.

In one embodiment, if an escape key is pressed, while the selection menu456 has focus, the menu disappears and field 404 receives focus again.In alternate embodiments the user can close selection menu 456 bycontinuing to scroll up after the top item in selection menu 456 hasreceived focus. In other embodiments, if a user changes a field (e.g.field 404) while menu 456 is not visible, either by keystroke or usingthe trackwheel, then menu 456 reappears.

After an address is selected, and inserted into recipient field 404, anew input field of the same type (‘To:’, ‘Cc:’ or ‘Bcc:’) appears. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 5C, a new ‘To:’ label 402B and a secondrecipient field 404B appears after the initial ‘To:’ recipient field 404was populated with the selected recipient. When the email is sent, allblank recipient fields are automatically stripped out. Conversely, asecond recipient may then be provided in the new ‘To:’ field 404B, in amanner similar to the way of the first recipient is specified. The usermay change the focus to any desired input field (e.g. from the recipientfield 404B to the copy recipient field 408) using the trackwheel. At anytime, the popup selection menu 470 of FIG. 5F may be invoked (bypressing the trackwheel) to select one of the entries labeled as ‘AddTo:’ 474, ‘Add Cc:’ 476, ‘Add Bcc:’ 478 or ‘Delete Field’ 480. As thelabels suggest, new input fields may be added: ‘Add To:’ entry 474 isused to add a new email recipient; the ‘Add Cc:’ entry 476 is used toadd a copy email address; and the ‘Add Bcc:’ entry 478 is used to add ablind copy email address. To delete a field, either the delete key maybe pressed or the popup menu 470 may be invoked while focus is on agiven input field and the ‘Delete Field’ entry 480 selected to removethe unwanted input field.

The possibility exists that the intended e-mail recipient is not in theaddress book but the user knows the e-mail address of the recipient. Tofacilitate entry of an e-mail address, as text characters are typed inrecipient field 404 or 404B (FIG. 5C), the contents are translated in aspecial SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol) Email Translation Field 457that appears at the top of the selection menu. This charactertranslation works as follows. Letters and numbers remain unaltered. Thefirst space character is translated into a ‘@’ symbol and subsequentspace characters are translated into periods. For instance the sequenceof letters (inside the double quotes) “terry van belle” in thistranslation scheme, would be translated to ‘terry@van.belle’ (inside thesingle quotes) which results after replacing the first space by ‘@’ andthe subsequent space by a period, just as described above. As the firstfive letters, “terry” are entered, the SMTP email translation field 457at the top of selection menu 456 would read “terry”, while selectionmenu 456 also displays address book entries matching the string “terry”,if any. As the first space character is typed in, the SMTP emailtranslation field will now read ‘terry@’ in accordance with thetranslation scheme just described. After the second space character isentered (i.e., “terry van”), the SMTP email translation field would read‘terry@van.’ and entries in menu 456 that do not match “terry van” woulddisappear, although the SMTP email translation field and the ‘Lookup:’entry would still be visible (FIG. 5D). As the rest of the stringcharacters are keyed in, the translated field would finally read‘terry@van.belle’. Alternatively, the translated text could appear inthe recipient field 404, rather than in a separate SMTP translationfield. The user may override the translation scheme in either of thefollowing two ways. In the first way, after typing the first spacecharacter (such that the SMTP email translation field reads ‘terry@’),the user may tap the backspace key to delete the space and then tap thespace key again. The consequence in the SMTP email translation field isthat the ‘@’ symbol is deleted upon the pressing of the backspace keyand a space, rather than a ‘@’ symbol, is inserted upon the subsequentpressing of the space key. The same sequence may be used to deletesubsequent periods in the SMTP email translation field. In the secondway, the user may press the shift key along with the space key in orderto force insertion of a space, rather than a translated character, inthe SMTP email translation field.

The email composition screen as shown in FIG. 5B and FIG. 5D may alsoallow a lookup in a global address list (GAL). The GAL is a list ofrecipients that resides in a remote computing device such as server 104in FIG. 1. Thus, not all recipient email addresses need be stored inhandheld device 200 as a GAL may be inspected by way of wired and/orwireless interconnections shown in FIG. 1. Specifically, the top of menu456 includes ‘Lookup:’ entry 460 (FIG. 5D) with a label 459 and a field461 mirroring the current contents of field 404 (except that occurrencesof ‘@’ and ‘.’ in the text of field 404 are replaced with spaces). Fromthe menu 456, a user selects the ‘Lookup’ entry 460 to search the GALresiding in a remote server. Thus, although all matching address bookentries (i.e., locally stored recipient names) would be listed in menu456 as the user types text into field 404, the user may select,‘Lookup:’ entry 460, to trigger a global address lookup. The string infield 461 is then sent over network 110 to a server computer 106 usingthe communications subsystem 270 (FIG. 2), over network 110 as shown inFIG. 1. In server 106, recipients that match the received string areselected from the global address list and transmitted back to the device200, where they are received, processed and presented to the user asshown in FIG. 5E. If the string is not found in the GAL, the list 462should not appear but instead the field reads ‘Lookup Failed:[keywords]’, where [keywords] represents the contents of field 461.

An exemplary result of a remote or global address lookup is displayed inscreenshot 462 in FIG. 5E. The title label 464 reads “Lookup: keywords(n matches)” or its equivalent, where n stands for the number of matchesfound in a remote address lookup. The title label thus indicates howmany matches were found. If the search returns only one address, then inone embodiment, the returned address is automatically filled in to theappropriate recipient field without displaying screenshot 462. In oneembodiment, the lookup screen 462 is not automatically displayed.Instead the input field reads ‘Lookup: keywords (n matches)’. If themenu 456 is invoked while focus is in such a field, the menu contains a‘View Lookup’ entry. Selecting ‘View Lookup’ then invokes screenshot462. Once an entry is selected, screenshot 462 disappears and the emailcomposition screen appears.

FIG. 6 shows a flow chart that summarizes the basic operations of onepossible implementation of a handheld device executing an email clientas presently disclosed. The flow chart S600 starts by displaying astartup screen which may be similar to the screenshot shown in FIG. 3A(S602). If the user decides to compose an email message (S604), thedevice launches an email composition screen (S606), and waits for a userinput (S608). If the input is message text (S614) then the email messagefield is updated (S636) and the process returns to waiting for userinput (S608). If the input is an indication to send the composed email(S610) the email is sent to the specified recipients (S616). If theinput is a recipient address (S612) then several processes take place.The text in the recipient field is translated into an SMTP address(S640) and the corresponding field is updated (S626). Moreover, as soonas the recipient is partially specified, the partial text is used tosearch the address book for matches (S618, S620), which are displayed(S628). If the user elects to search the GAL (S638) using the ‘Lookup’option, then the partial text is also searched in the GAL (S622).Matching recipients from the GAL (S624) are displayed to user (S630). Ifthe user chooses a recipient from the displayed list of matchingrecipients (S642), then the chosen recipient is inserted into theappropriate input field (S632). As can be seen, control may be returnedback to the user (to S608) from several steps (S636, S626, S620, S628,S624, S632, etc.) to permit flexible user interaction.

A detailed, step-by-step, example of using one embodiment of a userinterface for composing and sending an email message is described belowwith reference to FIGS. 7 to 29.

Turning to FIG. 7, a block diagram of an empty email composition screen700 is depicted. Screen 700 is similar to the screenshot depicted inFIG. 5A but additionally shows a ‘Send Using’ label 702 and associated‘Send Using’ field 704. By default, when a new e-mail composition screenis opened, as shown, the ‘Send Using’ field may be set to the option of‘Default’.

While focus is on the ‘Send Using’ field, the user may press trackwheel206 on obtain pop-up menu 820 (FIG. 8). The user may then select the‘Change Option’ entry 822 in pop-up menu 820. This results in the pop-upof a selection menu 920 as shown in FIG. 9 which lists possible servicesto use in order to send the email message. In this way, the user mayselect which email service to use and, in consequence, the contents ofthe ‘From:’ field in the e-mail message which is sent. As shown, theuser has the option of choosing an enterprise service labeled ‘Desktop’922 or another internet service, Rogers, which is labeled with theactual address 924 which will appear in the ‘From’ field of the e-mailmessage if this service is chosen. The default entry 926 in menu 920 isassociated with one of the listed services (i.e., one of the servicesindicated by labels 922 and 924). The user may separately set whichservice is to be considered the default service so that the user willknow which service he is using when the default service is selected.

For example, if a user changes the option to the ‘Desktop’ entry(representing the enterprise email service) then, as shown in FIG. 10,‘Desktop’ is thereafter displayed in the ‘Send Using’ field 704.

FIG. 11 depicts the selection of an email recipient in the recipientfield 1108. The user may type text into recipient (“To:”) field 1108whereupon the microprocessor 228 (FIG. 2) accesses the address book inlocal memory to find any matching names. These matching names aredisplayed in selection menu 1120, as shown in FIG. 11. Menu 1120 isheaded with fields 1122, 1124 labeled ‘Email’ and ‘Lookup’,respectively. A user can move an indicator down menu 1120 (using thetrackwheel) to focus on one of the listed addresses and select suchentry. Further, the user may scroll down menu 1120 using trackwheel 206to see additional entries, if there are more entries than can bedisplayed at once. The menu 1120 may contain all matching entries, orthe menu may be capped at a pre-determined number of entries.

Selection menu 1120 is dynamically updated upon each keystroke entry oftext into recipient field 1008, by displaying in the selection menu 1120a filtered list of names containing the typed text. Thus, in FIG. 11,all names containing a ‘j’ are listed in selection menu 1120, as aresult of the user typing ‘j’ into the recipient field 1008. As the useradds more text into the recipient field 1008, a smaller subset of namesis shown in the menu. Accordingly in FIG. 12, only names matching thetext ‘jaco’ are listed in menu 1220.

If the user focuses on the recipient represented by entry 1230 in menu1220, as shown in FIG. 12, and selects this recipient, since thisselected recipient has more than one email address in the address book,as seen in FIG. 13, another pop-up menu 1320 is displayed to facilitateselection of the email address to use. Specifically, menu 1320 lists allemail addresses in the address book that are associated with theselected recipient. The user highlights and selects one of the emailaddresses using trackwheel 206 (as shown in FIG. 14, the addressjsauer@rim.net).

Upon the user selecting a particular email address, as seen in FIG. 15,the selected recipient is displayed in recipient field 1008 and theselected email address is internally stored for use when actuallysending the completed email message. Notably, if the user had notchanged the email service indicated by the ‘Send Using’ field from itsinitial ‘Default’ setting, upon selection of the recipient, the‘Default’ indicator in this field is replaced with the label for theactual service which is associated with the ‘Default’ indicator (forexample, the ‘Desktop’ label). Moreover, upon selection of a recipient'semail address, a new “To:” label 1530 and an associated recipient field1532 are displayed to facilitate accepting an additional emailrecipient.

FIG. 16 depicts the selection of a carbon copy (Cc) email recipient in aCc recipient field 1612. This works in the same manner as the describedmanner of specifying an email recipient in the recipient field 1108 ofFIG. 11. As the user types text into field 1612, matching names areselected from the address book by microprocessor 228 (FIG. 2) anddisplayed in a selection menu 1120. Menu 1120 is headed with the entries‘Email’ and ‘Lookup’, providing fields for use as describedhereinbefore. A user can move an indicator down menu 1120 to focus onone of the listed addresses and select an entry. Further, as notedabove, the user may scroll down menu 1120 using trackwheel 206 to seeadditional entries, if there are more entries than can be displayed atonce. The menu 1120 may contain all matching entries, or the menu may berestricted to display a pre-determined maximum number of entries. Thus,as the user types more text into the Cc recipient field 1612, the listof names in menu 1120 is filtered to include only those matching thetyped text. As shown in FIG. 17, menu 1120 only lists names matching thetext ‘rober’ consequent upon the text ‘rober’ being entered into the Ccrecipient field 1612. As shown in FIG. 17, the user has focused on theentry “Robert Liang” in menu 1120. If this recipient is selected then,as illustrated in FIG. 18, the recipient Cc field 1612 is populated withthis recipient. Furthermore, consequent upon selecting a Cc recipient, anew Cc recipient field 1836 is added along with a corresponding label1834, as depicted in FIG. 18. If the selected recipient had more thanone email address in the address book, a pop-up menu (similar to menu1320 of FIG. 13) is first displayed to allow selection of the emailaddress to use.

Trackwheel 206 may be used to invoke pop-up menu 820 (FIG. 8) in orderto select the addition of a blind carbon copy (by selecting the “AddBcc” entry of the menu). Upon such selection, as seen in FIG. 19, a‘Bcc’ label 1938 and an associated field 1940 are added to thecomposition screen. The specification of a Bcc recipient in field 1940proceeds in the same manner to the above described procedure specifyingthe Cc recipient in field 1612 (FIG. 16). Specifically, as shown in FIG.19, once the user has typed “kris” into the Bcc recipient field 1940,the menu of matching names will be filtered to include only address bookentries matching this text string.

Upon selection of a Bcc recipient—as shown in FIG. 20, the recipient“Krishna Pathiyal”—this recipient is displayed in Bcc recipient field1940 and a new Bcc recipient field 2044 is added along with acorresponding label 2042. The new field may be populated as describedabove, or ignored by the user.

If the intended recipient is not in the address book, as depicted inFIG. 21, selection menu 1120 may only include the ‘Email’ and ‘Lookup’entries. As shown in FIG. 21, this has resulted from the user populatingthe second Cc recipient field 1836 with the text “balsil”. Further, thisfigure shows the user has focused on the ‘Lookup’ entry on selectionmenu 1120. If the user selects this entry to lookup or inspect a globaladdress list that resides in a corporate mail server accessible viacorporate mail service, the microprocessor 228 (FIG. 2) is prompted toquery the corporate mail server 104 (FIG. 1) at which the global addresslist resides. Matching names retrieved from the global address list aredisplayed, as shown in FIG. 22 in menu 2200. Menu 2200 may be headedwith an indication of how many matches were found. Thus, in FIG. 22, theheading text 2222 “Lookup: balsil (2 matches)” indicates that twomatches were found in the global address list. The user may then selecta desired recipient by focusing an indicator on this recipient andpressing the enter key from keyboard 224 (FIG. 2) or using trackwheel206 to bring up a pop-up menu 2320 (FIG. 23) and select the ‘Continue’option 2330. Upon selection of a recipient, the recipient name populatesthe second Cc recipient field and a new, third, Cc recipient field 2448with an associated “Cc:” label 2446, is then added to the compositionscreen as shown in FIG. 24.

The user may also enter the recipient address directly into therecipient field (which is useful if the recipient address is neither inthe address book nor in the global address list). For example, if theuser wants to send an email to batman@rimcom, the user can type“batman@rimcom” or “batman rim com” into the second recipient field 1532(FIG. 25). In the latter case, as noted earlier, a character translationis used in which letters and numbers remain unaltered while the firstspace character is translated into the ‘@’ symbol and subsequent spacecharacters are translated into periods. Further, once the user haslooked up a text string in the global address list—in the presentexample the string “balsil”—and selected one of the returned names, theselected name and associated e-mail address is cached locally and willappear in each future appearance of selection menu 1120. For thisreason, name specific look-up field 2540 appears at the head ofselection menu 1120 in FIG. 25. This has the advantageous result that anentry not in the local address book but previously obtained from theglobal address list (here [James Balsillie]) can be added to an e-mailmessage without inspecting the global address list again. Cached addressentries may be retained until the entry is added to the local addressbook or deleted.

Once the recipient is specified in the second recipient field 1532, athird recipient field 2636 and associated label 2634 are added to theemail composition screen as shown in FIG. 26. In general, a newrecipient field with an associated label are added to the emailcomposition screen after a recipient has been selected and filled intothe last available recipient field. This new field is of the same typeas the most recently populated recipient field. Thus, if the mostrecently populated field is a ‘To:’ field, a new ‘To:’ field (andassociated label) is added; if the most recently populated field is a‘Cc:’ field, a new ‘Cc:’ field (and associated label) is added; and ifthe most recently populated field is a ‘Bcc:’ field, a new ‘Bcc:’ field(and associated label) is added.

It may be that a user, after typing a text string into one of therecipient fields, such as “lazaridis”, inadvertently selects the option“Email lazaridis” from the selection menu 1620 (FIG. 16). Inconsequence, the name “lazaridis”: will appear in the “To:” field. Inthis case, the user may scroll to this “To:” field and click thetrackwheel 206 to obtain a context specific pop-up menu 2720 (FIG. 27).This menu 2720 will include an entry 2722 “Lookup: lazaridis”, theselection of which will cause the microprocessor 228 to retrievematching names from the global address list and display these.

The process of matching the typed text in a recipient field to entriesin the address book is done by comparing the typed text to both the nameof a recipient in an address book entry and also other attributes in theaddress book entry such as company names. Accordingly, with reference toFIG. 28, when “j” is typed into the recipient field 1532, then recipient“David Shepherd, Janna Systems” is listed in selection menu 1120,although the letter “j” does not appear anywhere in the name “DavidShepherd”: The match is due to the company name “Janna Systems”associated with recipient “David Shepherd”.

In an alternate embodiment illustrated in FIG. 29, the selection menu1120 lists not only recipients previously looked up and selected fromthe global address list but also the results of look-up searches of theglobal address list, such as search 2950.

The described approach and user interfaces may also be used withmessaging services other than e-mail such as a Personal IdentificationNumber (PIN) based addressing service, a short messaging service (SMS),a multimedia messaging service (MMS) or an instant messaging (IM)service. Where handheld device 200 may operate using one or more ofthese services, the user may select a particular service to use.

For example, a handheld device 200 may have a personal identificationnumber (PIN) associated with it and a service may exist to allowaddressing messages with a PIN. When two such devices communicate usinga PIN-based addressing service, one device may send a message using arecipient's PIN (instead of an email address). Using handheld device 200operating according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a usermay arrive at a screen similar to screenshot 400 (FIG. 5A) by selectingthe ‘Messages’ icon (FIG. 3A), invoking a popup selection menu (notshown), and selecting a ‘Compose PIN’ entry. The handheld device may nowbe said to be in ‘PIN mode’. As described for email composition, when auser types in text to an input field such as field 404, matching nameentries from the address book appear in a selection menu such asselection menu 456. After the user selects a name, the selected entry isdisplayed in the input field. If the selected recipient in selectionmenu does not have a PIN address, a message indicating this may bedisplayed to the user. It is also possible that the intended recipientis not in the address book but the user knows the PIN of the recipient.To facilitate entry of the PIN, as text characters are entered, theclient software may perform validation of the characters entered into aPIN input field and eliminate invalid PIN characters. For example, validPIN characters in one embodiment may only include numeric characters 0-9and letters a-f and A-F.

A step-by-step, example of using one embodiment of the user interfacefor composing and sending a PIN message is described below withreference to FIGS. 30 to 33.

FIG. 30 depicts a message screen 3000 that is typically arrived at, forexample, by pressing the ‘Messages’ icon in the start up screen 300(FIG. 3A). While on message screen 3000, the user can invoke a pop-upmenu 3020 while a particular message is highlighted. Pop-up menu 3020includes an entry “Compose PIN” that can be selected to invoke a PINcomposition window.

An exemplary PIN composition window is shown in FIG. 31. The PINcomposition window is similar to the email composition window of FIG. 7but does not include the ‘Send Using’ field and label. The user can typetext into recipient (“To:”) field 3104 whereupon the microprocessor 228(FIG. 2) accesses the address book in local memory to find any matchingnames. These matching names are displayed in a selection menu 3220, asshown in FIG. 32. The user can move an indicator down menu 3220 to focuson one of the listed addresses and select a recipient. If the number ofentries is too numerous to show on the display, the user may also scrolldown menu 3220 using trackwheel 206 to see additional entries. Menu 3220may contain all matching entries, or the menu may be capped at apre-determined number of entries.

Selection menu 3220 is dynamically updated upon each keystroke entry oftext into PIN recipient field 3104, by displaying in the selection menu3220 a filtered list of names containing the typed text. Thus, as aresult of the user typing ‘jac’ into the recipient field 3104 in FIG.32, only names containing the text ‘jac’ are listed in selection menu3220. Additionally, as illustrated, the results of earlier globaladdress list searches are shown.

As is the case with other input fields discussed above, upon selectionof a PIN recipient as shown in FIG. 33, the recipient is displayed inPIN recipient field 3104 and a new PIN recipient field 3304 is addedalong with a corresponding label 3302. The new field may be populated inthe manner described above, or ignored by the user. If the selectedrecipient did not have an associated PIN address, a warning to the useris generated.

In an alternate embodiment, keyboard 214 (FIG. 2) may be a “reducedkeyboard” in which multiple letters, symbols, and/or digits, and thelike, are assigned to any given key. For example, in U.S. Pat. No.7,091,885 to Fux et al., the contents of which are incorporated hereinby reference, multiple letters arrayed in a QWERTY arrangement arerepresented by a single key. Thus, the upper left key represents theletters ‘q’ and ‘w’, the next key, the letters ‘e’ and ‘r’, and so on.Other known reduced keyboards have included other arrangements of keys,letters, symbols, digits, and the like. Since a single actuation of sucha key potentially could be intended by the user to refer to any of therepresented letters, the input generally is an ambiguous input and is inneed of some type of disambiguation in order to be useful for text entrypurposes.

To enable a user to make use of the multiple letters, digits, and thelike on any given key, various keystroke interpretation systems havebeen provided. For instance, a “multi-tap” system allows a user tosubstantially unambiguously specify a particular character on a key bypressing the same key a number of times equivalent to the position ofthe desired character on the key.

In another keystroke interpretation system, a user presses keys to whichthe desired characters, amongst others, have been assigned, generallypressing each key one time for each desired letter, and disambiguationsoftware attempts to predict the intended input.

Accordingly, in one embodiment, multiple characters appear on each keyof the keyboard of the handheld and the user interface software includesdisambiguation software that predicts the intended input of the userfrom a potentially ambiguous input. A step-by-step example of emailcomposition using one embodiment employing a disambiguation engine isdepicted in FIGS. 34-36.

In FIG. 34, to enter text to the recipient filed 1108 of an empty e-mailcomposition screen, the user presses a key representative of the letters‘e’ and ‘r’. This results in the first of these letters (i.e., theletter ‘e’) being displayed in the recipient field and in the appearanceof selection menu 1120 populated with address book names containingeither the letter ‘e’ or the letter ‘r’.

In FIG. 35, the user inputs an additional ambiguous letter intorecipient field 1108 by pressing a key which signifies both the letters‘a’ and ‘s’. In this instance, the recipient field displays the letter‘s’ as this is considered the more likely letter to follow the supposedinitial ‘e’. Selection menu 1120 is also updated to display all addressbook entries that contain ‘ra’, ‘ea’, ‘es’, or ‘rs’. In other words, alladdress book entries that may match all possible interpretations of theinput text are displayed.

FIG. 36 shows the possibility of the user inputting the three letterambiguous text “kri” into recipient field 1108 by first pressing a keywhich may signify the letter ‘j’ or the letter ‘k’ followed by pressinga key which may signify the letter ‘r’ or the letter ‘e’ and then bypressing a key which may signify the letter ‘u’ or the letter ‘i’. If,of all the eight possible combinations, the local address book hasentries matching only the “kri” combination, this is the combinationwhich is displayed in the recipient field and which is used to obtainselection menu 1120. As is typical with disambiguation engines, a dropdown menu is available to allow the user to edit the automaticallyselected text.

In another embodiment, short messaging service (SMS) may be used to senda text message to a recipient. Here, instead of an email address or aPIN, a phone number is used to specify recipients. A phone numberassociated with an SMS-enabled device may be specified as a recipientdirectly or through selection of a name in the address book associatedwith a phone number. Again, using handheld device 200, a user may arriveat an SMS composition screen by selecting the ‘Messages’ icon (FIG. 3A),invoking a popup selection menu (not shown), and selecting a ‘ComposeSMS’ entry. Of course, in an SMS composition screen, only the ‘To:’label and corresponding field is displayed, since ‘Cc:’ and ‘Bcc:’labels or associated input fields are not supported by SMS. If theintended recipient is not in the address book, or no phone number isassociated with the recipient, but the user knows the phone number ofthe recipient, the user may enter the phone number into the input field.As the user keys in a phone number, the client software may assist theuser by performing validation as characters are entered into a phonenumber input field and eliminating invalid characters. For example,valid phone number characters in one embodiment include only numericcharacters 0-9.

In yet another embodiment, multimedia messaging service (MMS) may beused to send a text message and multimedia attachments to a recipient.Here, either a phone number or an email address is used to specifyrecipients. A phone number associated with an MMS-enabled device may bespecified as a recipient. Using handheld device 200 a user may arrive atan MMS composition screen by selecting the ‘Messages’ icon (FIG. 3A),invoking a popup selection menu (not shown), and selecting a ‘ComposeMMS’ entry. As is the case for SMS, in an MMS composition screen, onlythe ‘To:’ label and corresponding field are displayed, since ‘Cc:’ and‘Bcc:’ labels or associated input fields are not supported by MMS. Ifthe intended recipient is not in the address book the user may enter thephone number of the recipient directly into the input field. The clientsoftware may assist the user by performing validation as characters areentered into a phone number input field, and eliminating invalidcharacters. Similar to the case for SMS, valid phone number charactersin one embodiment are restricted to numeric characters 0-9.

In yet another embodiment, instant messaging (IM) may be used to sendand receive text messages to a recipient in real time. Here, a buddyname is used to specify recipients and a buddy name from a contact listassociated with an instant messaging service is used to select arecipient. Using an instant messaging client on handheld device 200 auser arrives at an instant messaging screen. Instant messaging requiresthe user to log into an IM server. Once logged in, the user may initiatetwo-way communication with another user (a buddy) who is also logged into the IM server. Similar to what was described for email composition,when a user types in text to the input field, matching buddy nameentries from the list of contacts that are online (buddy names), mayappear in a selection menu similar to selection menu 456 allowing theuser to select one. After the user selects a name, the selected entry isdisplayed in a field, such as field 404, and the user may then send andreceive messages in real time. Rather than selecting a name from acontact list (buddy list), the user has the option of keying in a knownbuddy name.

In alternate implementations of instant messaging, a buddy name may beassociated with address book entries. Using an instant messaging clienton handheld device 200 a user may arrive at an instant messaging screen.As described for email composition, when a user types in text to theinput field 404, matching recipient names from the address book aredisplayed in selection menu 456 allowing the user to select one. Afterthe user selects a name, the selected entry may be displayed in a field,such as field 404, and the user may send and receive messages in realtime. However, if the selected entry does not have an associated buddyname, the user is warned. Once again, the user may have the option ofkeying in a known buddy name into a recipient input field.

As may be appreciated by an ordinary user of popular desktopapplications, the layout of screenshot 400 shown in FIG. 5A issubstantially the same as user interface layouts commonly used inpopular desktop email clients. In particular, field 404 corresponding tolabel 402 (which reads “To:”) and field 408 corresponding to label 406(which reads “Cc:”), are now very intuitive to use, even for noviceusers working with a handheld device with no address book entries. Usersmay now simply type the address of the recipient in to the field 404 (orfield 408) without first going through menu driven input sequences suchas the dropdown list similar to 338 (in FIG. 3B). As a furtheradvantage, the often confusing ‘[Use Once]’ selection 336 (shown in FIG.3B) is conveniently avoided altogether. The improved user interface thusallows for a more enjoyable user experience and a reduced learning curvefor new users, which in turn may help drive demand for wirelesscommunication devices and related services.

Of course, the above described embodiments are intended to beillustrative only and in no way limiting. The described embodiments aresusceptible to many modifications of form, arrangement of parts, detailsand order of operation. The disclosed embodiments are rather intended toencompass all such modification within the scope, as defined by theclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a wireless handheld device,comprising: on receipt of a request to compose a message, displaying ona display of said wireless handheld device (i) a first recipient fieldof a first type for a recipient address, and (ii) a message compositionfield for holding message content; thereafter, upon a keystroke entry oftext into said first recipient field: searching an address book forentries that match said text; displaying on said display a selectionmenu comprising any matching entries; upon a subsequent keystroke entryof subsequent text into said first recipient field, altering saiddisplayed selection menu to remove entries that do not match the textand the subsequent text; and on receipt of an input corresponding to aselection of one of said matching entries, (a) populating said firstrecipient field based on said selected one of said matching entries, (b)ceasing to display said selection menu on said display and, (c) alteringsaid display to add a second recipient field of said first type for asecond recipient address to said display.
 2. The method of claim 1further comprising: thereafter, upon a second keystroke entry of text tosaid second recipient field: searching said address book for secondentries that match text input to said second recipient field; displayinga second selection menu comprising any said second entries; upon asubsequent keystroke entry of second subsequent text into said secondrecipient field, altering said displayed second selection menu to removeentries that do not match the text and the second subsequent text inputto the second recipient field; and on receipt of an input correspondingto a selection of one of said second entries, (a) populating said secondrecipient field based on said selection of one of said second entries,(b) ceasing to display said selection menu on said display and, (c)altering said display to add a third recipient field for a thirdrecipient address of said first type to said display so that said thirdrecipient field is displayed with said first recipient field, saidsecond recipient field, and said message composition field.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said message is to be sent with a givenmessaging service.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein said address bookentry is a recipient name associated with an address according to aprotocol of said messaging service.
 5. The method of claim 3 furthercomprising, upon receipt of said input, where said selection is anaddress book entry associated with a recipient name not associated withan address according to a protocol of said messaging service, generatinga warning.
 6. The method of claim 3, wherein said first recipient fieldis displayed with a first label and said second recipient field isdisplayed with a second label, said second label being identical to saidfirst label.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein said first label and saidsecond label indicate a “To:” field, a “Cc” field, or a “Bcc” field. 8.The method of claim 3, wherein said messaging service is an e-mailservice, a short messaging service, an instant messaging service, apersonal identification number (PIN) messaging service, or a multi-mediamessaging service.
 9. The method of claim 3, further comprising, uponreceipt of a request to send said message, prior to sending, removingsaid second recipient field, if no text has been entered to said secondrecipient field.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein receipt of an inputcorresponding to a selection of one of said matching entries comprisesreceiving a selection of an enter key and the one of said matchingentries selected is a displayed matching entry displayed in withhighlighting in the selection menu.
 11. The method of claim 10, whereindisplaying on said display a selection menu comprising any matchingentries comprises displaying the topmost one of the matching entrieswith highlighting.
 12. The method of claim 2, wherein receipt of aninput corresponding to a selection of one of said second entriescomprises receiving a selection of an enter key and the one of saidsecond entries selected is a displayed second entry displayed in withhighlighting in the second selection menu.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein displaying on said display the second selection menu comprisingany second entries comprises displaying the topmost one of the secondentries with highlighting.
 14. A handheld device comprising: apersistent store; a keyboard for text entry; a display; a wirelesstransmitter; a controller operable to: upon receipt of a request tocompose a message to be sent with a messaging service, display on saiddisplay (i) a first recipient field for a recipient address of a firsttype, and (ii) a message composition field for holding message content;thereafter, upon a keystroke entry of text into said first recipientfield: search an address book for entries that match said text; displayon said display a selection menu comprising any matching entries; andupon a subsequent keystroke entry of subsequent text into said firstrecipient field, alter said displayed selection menu to remove entriesthat do not match the text and the subsequent text; and on receipt of aninput corresponding to a selection of one of said matching entries, (a)populate said first recipient field based on said selected one of saidmatching entries, (b) cease to display said selection menu on saiddisplay and, (c) alter said display to add a second recipient field ofsaid first type for a second recipient address to said display.
 15. Thedevice of claim 14, wherein said controller is further operable to:thereafter, upon a second keystroke entry of text to said secondrecipient field: search said address book for second entries that matchtext input to said second recipient field; display a second selectionmenu comprising any said second entries; upon a subsequent keystrokeentry of second subsequent text into said second recipient field,altering said displayed second selection menu to remove entries that donot match the text and the second subsequent text input to the secondrecipient field; and on receipt of an input corresponding to a selectionof one of said second entries, (a) populate said second recipient fieldbased on said selection of one of said second entries, (b) cease todisplay said selection menu on said display and, (c) altering saiddisplay to add a third recipient field for a third recipient address ofsaid first type to said display so that said third recipient field isdisplayed with said first recipient field, said second recipient field,and said message composition field.
 16. The device of claim 14, whereinsaid controller is further operable to: display said first recipientfield with a first label and said second recipient field with a secondlabel, said second label being identical to said first label.
 17. Thedevice of claim 16, wherein said controller is operable to send saidmessage with an e-mail service, a short messaging service, an instantmessaging service, a personal identification number (PIN) messagingservice, or a multi-media messaging service.
 18. The device of claim 14,wherein said controller is further operable to: upon receipt of arequest to send said message, prior to sending, remove said secondrecipient field, if no text has been entered to said second recipientfield.
 19. The device of claim 16, wherein said first label and saidsecond label indicate a “To:” field, a “Cc” field, or a “Bcc” field. 20.The device of claim 14, wherein the controller is configured to displayone of the matching entries of the selection menu with highlighting, andwherein receipt of an input corresponding to a selection of one of saidmatching entries comprises receiving a selection of an enter key and theone of said matching entries selected is a displayed matching entrydisplayed in with highlighting in the selection menu.
 21. The device ofclaim 20, wherein the controller is configured to display the topmostone of the matching entries with highlighting when displaying on saiddisplay the selection menu comprising any matching entries.
 22. Thedevice of claim 14, wherein the controller is configured to display oneof the second entries of the second selection menu with highlighting,and wherein receipt of an input corresponding to a selection of one ofsaid second entries comprises receiving a selection of an enter key andthe one of said second entries selected is a displayed second entrydisplayed in with highlighting in the second selection menu.
 23. Thedevice of claim 22, wherein the controller is configured to display thetopmost one of the second entries with highlighting when displaying onsaid display the second selection menu comprising any second entries.